late Qing Dynasty arrest

There was a blast in the room, complaining that in Xinwutang, it was like a war horse being put on a saddle and a bit, and could not even move. But now they have no corruption, bribery, corruption, laxity, degeneration, etc. For Li Guolou The "Reorganization Order" issued didn't feel like I was being restrained. It was just like this, and I can continue to maintain it in the future. After I said some complaints, the three of them walked out of the room with neat steps, breasts and belly It's time for dinner.

Seven tables were set up for the dinner, full of plates and bowls, good wine and good food, entertaining Li Hongzhang and others, as well as the school officials of the Xinwu Hall. Li Hongzhang had a high status, and he came up to offer three glasses of wine to everyone. , began to drink freely.

Zhang Peilun, whose nose was broken by Li Guolou, also came to the banquet to drink, with gauze tied on his face, which looked quite funny. Li Guolou got up three times, walked over, toasted Zhang Peilun, punished himself with three bowls of wine, He sighed and expressed 12 apologies. Zhang Peilun said that the small injury in the martial arts competition is nothing to worry about. He didn't blame Li Guolou, but the seeds of resentment had already been planted in his heart.

The soldiers are young and powerful, and they are all big-bellied men. The meat served is served in copper basins. When a dish is served, no one will be polite, and the uneducated will tear and snatch it. The person sitting at the main table is okay. , pay attention to etiquette and honor, and move slowly, no one will snatch food viciously.

Seeing that the table next to him was making a scene, Li Guolou said, "Battelle, have you forgotten what you said? You can only eat five minutes."

The oily Battelle heard Li Guolou talking about him, so he hurriedly stopped scrambling for food, wiped his big mouth decently, slowed down his eating speed, and explained: "Master Xuezheng, Xinwutang is too bitter. How can there be a chance to eat and drink with a little minced meat!"

The school officials echoed Battelle's words, complaining about the poor food and hard life in Xinwu Hall. Li Guolou was extremely dissatisfied, put down his chopsticks, and said loudly: "You are all nonsense, where can you go, and who has been so hungry? Ah! Ordinary people only eat meat during festivals. You eat meat every day, and you still say it’s bitter. How about eating pot helmets during wars? Battelle, have you forgotten the days when you gnawed grass roots in the grassland? Xinwutang raised you up Now, from now on, I will eat sweet potato and steamed buns every week, so that you can remember the bitterness and sweetness, and know what the common people are eating. Born and raised in this place, people can never forget their roots."

The school officials in the audience were speechless after being refuted by Li Guolou, and the scene was quite awkward. Liu Mingchuan stood up, raised his glass and said: "Master Xuezheng is also for your own good, come, we will do it for you next time!" Kudos to him for his outstanding performance in the boxing fight."

"Salute to Master Xuezheng, and learn from Master Xuezheng." The crowd raised their glasses to pay tribute to Li Guolou, and the soldier's indomitable momentum was fully displayed.

Now Li Guolou's face became embarrassing. When he beat the short Chinese, he still had the upper hand in terms of physical strength. When he beat the ape Tarzan, he was at a disadvantage and became a short and weak person. His self-confidence dropped to zero. The high-sounding words blurted out: "You gentlemen, don't worry, I have the determination to return the shroud of horse leather, and earn glory for the motherland in the boxing ring. I hope you will support me a lot, ouch..."

Everyone's hearts were as bright as a mirror. The school officials had already analyzed it and did not expose Li Guolou's lies. Anyway, Li Guolou had already said that it doesn't matter if you lose a few times on the battlefield, winning the key battles is the key. The winner, it's not the time for a decisive battle yet, so keep a low profile, be a coward, and continue to endure.

Li Guolou squinted at Liu Mingchuan who was beside him, and slandered in his stomach: Liu Mazi, you are the one who likes you. When you have a chance to expose your true face as a private salt dealer, you still claim to be a righteous man who is loyal to the emperor and patriotism, but a smuggler and a gangster. Boss, social scum.

Li Guolou suffered a lot, and ignored the mischief of the people at the next table, and ate food on his own. He drank a few bowls of yellow soup, and he was already dizzy and slightly drunk, but because he came to Xinwutang Afterwards, he showed himself as an upright gentleman, and what he said and what he did were extremely strict, almost harsh, even mean, so the school officials were a little scared when they saw him, even those servants he used to dare not Going to toast to him in the public is afraid that he will turn his face, and no one toasts to him, this makes Li Guolou slowly recover, not drunk, still sitting on the back chair, watching the banquet with a stern expression on every move.

Driven by Liu Mingchuan, the atmosphere at the banquet began to improve. When the steaming food was served, there was a burst of clamor. Everyone took turns to toast each other, and most of them toasted to Liu Mingchuan and Master Xu Qian.

Liu Mingchuan has a good capacity for alcohol, and he never refuses anyone who comes. He ate and drank to his heart's content. Driven by him, the people at each table became relaxed, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Xu Qian has a high status and has the official hat of the third-rank Daotai. Except for Li Hongzhang, he is the oldest person present, so the officials took turns to toast to him. He had no scruples, shook his head, and said dissolutely: "Liu Qian, don't praise me, I don't know how much I own, and I met the Lord Ming, Mr. Fu Xiang, and this is how I feel. In the early days, what are the alternate officials? They are called disaster officials. Being an alternate official suffers from hardships, just like suffering a disaster. An alternate official usually has no income, but he still has to maintain a corresponding dignity. Out of pockets, so many alternate officials were poor, and even died of hunger and cold. There are eighteen provinces in the world, and there are tens of thousands of alternate officials. There are more than [-] people in the prefecture and Zhili Prefecture, more than [-] people in the prefecture and county, and more than [-] assistants and miscellaneous staff, a total of more than [-] people. There are less than [-] talents in the county planner, and the ratio of the two is [-] to [-]. At that time, people ridiculed that "there are more famous people crossing the river than crucian carp, and there are as many officials as ants."

Liu Mingchuan raised his sleeves to eat, and shouted loudly: "That's right! People in the Jianghu say: There are many donkeys, there are many alternates."

Everyone wanted to laugh but didn't dare to laugh. Many people have a deep understanding. They are also alternate officials. Li Hongzhang's aides and adjutant Goshha are all alternate civil servants and military officers of this nature. They follow a good master and have hope. There is always a chance to be released as an official. The alternate officials in the outside world are not so lucky. Many alternate officials died of hunger and cold.

Holding the wine glass, Li Guolou said with emotion: "Li Ciming, a well-known scholar who once donated to the Hubu doctor, wrote a couplet when he lived in Baoansi Street in the capital, and lamented the slowness of filling the vacancy. Outside the ministry, it has been 1000 years since the vacancy was filled. Once, Tan Zongjun and I passed by Baoansi Street. He also wrote a poem specifically to fill the vacancy: "The ministry has returned to the imperial court. It is too late to have a shortage in ten years." It’s not too late, there are as many alternate officials in the Qing Dynasty as there are.”

Hearing Li Guolou showing off his knowledge, Xu Qian felt a sense of sympathy for each other, nodded and said: "Yes, I have personally experienced an interesting incident, and I will tell you about it. On New Year's Day of a certain year, civil and military officials from Kaifeng Prefecture gathered In order to celebrate the new year, the governor used couplets to seek reassurance, saying: "Kaifeng Prefecture opened the seal and sealed it, "an alternate magistrate said to him: "The alternate county has no time to fill the vacancies, and there is no time to fill the vacancies." This is the true portrayal of our alternate officials in the Qing Dynasty ah!"

Liu Mingchuan heard Xu Qian and Li Guolou singing together in Wen Cranchi, rolled his eyes, laughed and said, "I'm here to join in the fun, and tell a joke about the alternate official. In Hefei, Anhui, there is an alternate who donated to the Second Miscellaneous position." Officer, who has not filled the vacancy for 17 years, walks in the dark alley every day, relieves worries and relieves boredom. After a long time, he met a widow in the alley of Heigulongdong. Later, the two became husband and wife. The alternate officer laughed at himself: "I Finally filled the gap, 'ha ha ha ha."

Liu Mingchuan was the first to laugh while holding his stomach, and squinted at Li Guolou, implying that Li Guolou made up for the widow's lack of a husband.

Those present who were not making jokes about Li Guolou's marriage behind their backs, everyone could hear the voice of Liu Mingchuan's words, wanted to laugh but didn't dare to laugh, their eyes were all focused on Li Guolou's face, to see if he would get angry.

The wine bowl in Li Guolou's hand turned, and instead of splashing the wine on Liu Mingchuan's face, he said with a smile: "Mr. Liu, your joke was wrong just now. Didn't the candidate for the secondary position be married One widow, but married three widows, and some of the people present also attended the wedding? Catch up with that alternate officer and marry three widows, please go to drink the wedding wine, cheer for you, and make you happy The bad luck washes away."

Now everyone present couldn't hold back anymore, they all fell down laughing, they couldn't even catch their breath. Li Hongzhang laughed so hard that he covered his abdomen and pointed at Li Guolou, trying to look serious, but he just couldn't hold his face. Smiling, he said: "Okay, Li Guolou counts you as kind, isn't he afraid that the censor will impeach you?"

Li Guolou's face was red and his ears were dry. He lowered his head and dared not say a word. How could he hide the affairs of his mansion from Li Hongzhang, an old fox. When people are laughing after dinner, they quickly pick up the wine bowl and take a big sip of wine, and laugh it off as nonsense after drinking.

Seeing Li Hongzhang's reproachful expression towards him, Liu Mingchuan understood, squeezed his eyes, picked up the big wine bowl, stood up with a smile on his face, approached Li Guolou, hooked Li Guolou's shoulders, and yelled: "Li Guolou! , It was what you said just now, treat me to a wedding wine next year, and help me get rid of bad luck, you have to keep your word!" While speaking, Liu Mingchuan toasted, still hooking Li Guolou, like Siamese twins, very good.

Li Guolou didn't expect that Liu Mingchuan was so thick-skinned, he was as good at climbing down poles as he was, and would even try to get close to him. He was almost mistaken, so many people looked at him, pretended to be crazy, raised a big bowl, rolled it up With a big tongue, he said vaguely: "Well, it's easy to say, and Liu Gong is comparable to the King of Yue!"

Li Guolou and Liu Mingchuan bumped into each other, pretending to be crazy and fooling around, neither of them lost in the scene, showing the gentlemanly attitude of a high-ranking official with infinite glory.

Liu Mingchuan's bright red eyes shone brightly, he dared to call him a slut, Li Guolou, be careful of your dog's head, but for the sake of future fame and fortune, let's get along with Li Guolou temporarily, Take a step back and open up to the sky.

The banquet ended in a lively atmosphere. Li Guolou swayed and returned to the bedroom. He washed his face with cold water to wake up his head. Others can sleep until dawn, but he still has an errand, looking at the desk The article "Etiquette and Precautions for Western Missions Going Abroad in the Qing Dynasty" will be another sleepless night. Li Guolou sits in front of the desk and writes articles like a dragon.